Doubts over popular parenting program

It is used in 25 countries, has been translated into 17 languages and is ranked by the United Nations as the leading parenting program.

But a stoush has broken out whether what is known as Triple P - Positive Parenting Program - works as well as has been claimed, and has led to questions about the public money spent on it.

Triple P aims to help adults understand and manage their child's behaviour and become confident parents. Parents sign up voluntarily, or can be referred by a GP, counsellor or welfare agency.

Roger and Michelle Gordon with their two boys Mitchell and Reuben. Photo: Simon O'Dwyer

Pioneering parent educator Matt Sanders, the director of the parenting and family support centre at the University of Queensland, spent three decades developing the program. Triple P is the biggest program of its kind in Australia, with the NSW government spending almost $6.6 million to deliver it to 30,000 families. The program is also widely run in Victoria, funded by the Commonwealth.

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But a number of recent international studies have raised concerns about the program's benefits.

Philip Wilson, of the University of Aberdeen, helped review 33 studies that assessed the outcomes of Triple P programs. ''We found no convincing evidence that Triple P interventions work across the whole population, or that any benefits are long-term,'' he wrote in his study published in BMC Medicine.

A separate study led by Michael Little, co-director of the Social Research Unit in Britain, compared Triple P with two other parenting programs in Birmingham.

The results, published in the International Journal of Violence and Conflict, found that Triple P made little difference in the behaviour of the 146 children who took part.

Professor Sanders rejected suggestions the program was unproven and ineffectual. He described the Birmingham study as ''particularly poor'' research.

''The vast majority of studies show positive effects, so for the tiny handful that show no effect it's usually because the intervention has not been implemented properly,'' he said.

He said University of Aberdeen researchers looked at less than a quarter of available evaluations.

'We have a great family unit now'

Michelle Gordon's mornings used to start with regular tantrums followed by a struggle to get her two sons, Mitchell, 7, and Reuben, 6, ready for the day.

''We were not a very happy family at the time,'' she said. ''We just didn't know how to manage them.''

A Triple P course showed Mrs Gordon and her husband Roger, of Coldstream, how to deal with bad behaviour, foster good behaviour and set boundaries.

They learnt techniques for managing their youngest son's behaviour.

''We had to learn how to not play into the tantrums and the blow-ups that our little one would have,'' she said.

After a few months they noticed the difference in their children.

''All the techniques were very helpful,'' Mrs Gordon said.

''Before it was hard just to get them out the door without a tantrum.

''Now we have we have travelled overseas with them and it was awesome. We have a great little family unit now.''

2 comments

Wouldn't it be better to roll out these programs BEFORE people become parents? Easier on the parents, easier on the kids. A happier family to start with.

Commenter

Tom

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

March 20, 2013, 9:09AM

I'd be interested to know whether you have children Tom. From personal experience, I've found that it's pretty hard to learn everything you need know, retain it and then use it effectively a couple of years down the track. Life as a parent can be challenging at any stage of a child's life and you may need different types of help and knowledge depending on when and what particular challenges you face. If I had participated in a triple-P program before my kids were born I'm pretty sure I would have forgotten most of it before I actually needed it. I think you'll find that many prospective parents undertake parenting courses prior to having their first child - I know there were a number of sessions as part of my pre-natal classes that dealt with life with a newborn. Mother's groups were also geared towards helping with the early days and beyond. You can have a breezy time with tiny ones only to find that once they get to school life gets harder and everything that worked just fine for 5 years suddenly doesn't work - that's when you need some help to get things on track. Parenting courses for parents with children older than toddlers can be very valuable if only to provide some strategies for parents to help them through certain phases growing children go through. As with anything if you don't stick with it and be consistent it's unlikely to work effectively.